1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wire harness and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, a wire harness generally used for a vehicle or the like is constituted by a bundle of a plurality of electric wires which branch off at proper positions to connect a plurality of electric devices with each other.
Since such a wire harness has a substantially circular cross-section, it is difficult to decrease the thickness of the wire harness. When, for example, a wire harness is to be installed in a door of a vehicle, the wire harness must be arranged to avoid the space for window members housed in the door. For this reason, the wire harness must be installed over a long distance.
In addition, when a large number of electric wires are to be installed, a branching operation is difficult to perform. If the electric wires are to be distinguished from each other by using different colors in consideration of such a situation, a large number of colors are required, resulting in an increase in cost.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a wire harness and a method of manufacturing the same, which suppress an increase in thickness of the wire harness and allows it to be installed in a narrow space.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a wire harness and a method of manufacturing the same, which allow an easy branching operation regardless of the number of electric wires.
According to the present invention, there is provided a wire harness comprising a flat cable having a trunk portion formed by covering a plurality of parallel electric wires with an insulating coating by integral molding, a plurality of branch portions formed by branching the trunk portion, and a joint device for connecting not less than two electric wires of the plurality of electric wires constituting the trunk portion to electrically short-circuit the branch portions.
In addition, according to the present invention, there is provided a wire harness manufacturing method, comprising the step of mounting a connector to end portions of electric wires of a trunk portion which include electric wires to be short-circuited between branch portions, which are arranged to be adjacent to each other, and which are equal to a number obtained by subtracting the number of short-circuited electric wires from the total number of electric wires of the trunk portion, the step of mounting a joint device, the step of electrically short-circuiting not less than two electric wires by using a short-circuiting member, the step of cutting an electric wire to be short-circuited between a position where the short-circuiting metal member is mounted and the connector of an end portion of the trunk portion, and the step of electrically short-circuiting an electric wire arranged between a cutting position and the connector and an electric wire which is arranged at an end portion, of the trunk portion, in a direction of width thereof, and is not connected to the connector.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.